The recent news of the U.S.-based multinational Dow Chemicals proposal
to buy out Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) for 9.3 billion dollars in stocks has evoked
sharp protest from the survivors of the December 1984 gas disaster in Bhopal. The disaster
caused by the leakage of toxic chemicals from a pesticide factory owned by Union Carbide
has led to the death of thousands of people and well over 100,000 continue to suffer from
a range of multi-systemic diseases. Criminal cases against UCC are still pending in the
Bhopal district court and there is fresh evidence of environmental damage caused by the
company around its factory in Bhopal.

Representatives of survivors organisations in Bhopal today condemned
the merger of UCC with Dow to become the "second largest toxic behemoth in the
world". The three survivors organisations have together sent a memorandum to the
Chief Executive Officer of Dow Chemicals reminding him of the liabilities arising from the
disaster in Bhopal. Liabilities from causing thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of
injuries, withholding medical information and contaminating ground water and soil have
been listed by the organisations. They have demanded that Dow Chemicals inform them of
plans to discharge these liabilities.

Abdul Jabbar, Convenor, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan,
mentioned that both UCC and Dow Chemicals are guilty of crimes against humanity. According
to him "while Union Carbide, through its reckless profit seeking, perpetrated the
worlds worst industrial massacre, Dow Chemicals is guilty of producing Agent Orange
that maimed hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people and caused horrific birth
defects."

Balkrishna Namdeo, Convenor, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi
Sangharsh Morch, pointed out that the international environment organisation, Greenpeace,
has found that chlorine-based products produced by Dow Chemical, including PVC plastics,
pesticides, and solvents ,constitute the world's largest source of dioxins  the most
toxic chemical in the world. He said "As the Dioxin King, Dow Chemicals is
responsible for causing a variety of cancers, endometriosis, declining fertility, immune
system suppression and birth defects all over the world. Dows merger with Union
Carbide makes it an even greater threat to life and health of people all over the world.
"

Rashida Bi, President, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari
Sangh, stated that Dow was found to have "deliberately withheld information that its
silicone breast implants could cause fatal autoimmune disorders and repiratory
damage." She said "Both Dow and Union Carbide have a history of criminal
insensitivity towards health of women, their merger should agitate women all over the
world ".

Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action stated
that the merger of the two companies, both part of the "military industrial
complex", raises significant concerns regarding global security and the environment.
"In view of strict U.S. federal anti-trust laws," he said, " the proposed
merger of these two U.S. based giant corporations could well be challenged legally".